National Brewers

Player / coach / manager George Bachrach retired after the 1982 playoffs and 8 seasons and the team began another transition. The lack of a sponsor providing money to defray the high cost of ice time was still a major problem. The Brewers had been without any sponsor dollars for the past 4 seasons and costs had continued to rise. Longtime Brewer Dave Mattingly with help from Ray Peloquin took over as coach and manager of the club. An August 1982 overture was made to the G. Heileman Brewing Company of Baltimore Maryland for sponsorship of the hockey team. This major brewery had recently purchased the failing Carling National Breweries and now was the producer of National Bohemian Beer. Dave Mattingly appealed to George Saxon, Director of Marketing for Heileman, to potentially resume the connection with National Bohemian. However, Heileman was looking to promote another brand in their product line. In addition, they were searching for local community sponsorships. The brand that needed promotion was the upscale National Premium Beer, another of the brands originally from the National Brewing Company, the Brewers original sponsor. A September 1982 agreement was struck between Dave Mattingly and Heileman for new uniforms, which would cost $775 and a cash donation of $1500 for ice time. This was the largest sponsorship amount ever obtained for the team. The donation from Heileman allowed the club to continue to operate as dues were approaching a prohibitive $400 per player. As a result of the new agreement, The Columbia Brewers were renamed the National Premiums. The team continued to be known informally as the Brewers, due to the previous 14 seasons of Brewers' hockey. However, in the Washington CHL standings and media game results it was known officially as the National Premiums hockey club.

The newly named National Premiums opened the league season with a 6-0 loss to Maruk's Blades, but then reeled off 5 wins and one loss in the next 6 CHL games. Dave Mattingly led the Premiums scoring, followed by Tim O'Neil, Biff Evans and Tim Urban. Former CHL rival Donald Cassell joined the club and provided a big lift for the teams' defense. Goaltending was anchored by Tom Browne and new Premium goalie Doug Bunce. One of the new Premiums' players, John Rode wore a pair of light blue skates. The blue colored leather was reminiscent of the white skates worn by Steve Wirth in the mid 1970's.

The Premiums finished third in the Fort Dupont based CHL with an 11-7-0 record, trailing Caravan at 15-3-0 and Maruk's Blades who finished 13-3-2. Fourth place went to Fairfax, followed by D & F Arrows, University of Maryland and the Coast Guard club team. The Premiums achieved an overall record of 16-11-2 in the 29 games played during the 1982-83 season. Outside games played included contests against the Harrisburg Pioneers, Tendler's Eagles and the Wilmington Wheels. The playoff semi final was a best of 3 versus Maruk's. The Premiums had not beaten this opponent during the regular season, but overwhelmed Maruk's in the opener by a 7-1 score. Dave Mattingly and Mike Roy each had 2 goals and an assist to lead the playoff win. The stage was set for the Premiums to defeat Maruk's in the semi final series, but the club suddenly could not find the net. Maruk's took wins by 4-3 and 7-2 to move to the CHL final against Caravan. It was still considered a successful season for the first year National Premiums.